Has anybody here read 'Prey' by Michael Critchton?

[jus_the_facts]

....just started it last night...only read the intro and am anxious to get into it....

an exerpt from the introduction...

At the moment nanotechnology is primarily a materials technology, but its potential goes far beyond that. For decades there has been speculation about self-reproducing machines. In 1980 a NASA paper discussed several methods by which such machines could be made. Ten years ago, two knowledgeable scientist took the matter seriously.

Within fifty to a hundred years, a new class of organisms is likely to emerge. These organisms will be artificial in the sense that they will originally be designed by humans. However, they will reproduce, and will "evolve" into something other than their original form; they will be "alive" under any reasonable definition of the word....The pace of evolutionary change will be extremely rapid....The impact on humanity and the biosphere could be enormous, larger than the industrial revolution, nuclear weapons, or enviornmental pollution. We mus take steps now to shape the emergence of arificial organisms....

And the chief proponent of nanotechnology, K. Eric Drexler, expressed related concerns:

There are many people, including myself, who are queasy about the consequences of this technology for the future. We are talking about changing so many things that the risk of society handling it poorly through lack of preparation is very large.


Even by the most optimistic (or dire) predictions, such organisms are probably decades into our future. We may hope that by the time they emerge, we will have settled upon international controls for self-reproducing technologies. We can expect such controls to be stringently enforced; already we have learned to treat computer virus-makers with severity unthinkable twenty years ago. We've learned to put hackers in jail. Errant biotechnologist will soon join them.

But of course, it is always possible that we will not establish controls. Or that someone will manage to create artificial, self-reproducing organisms far sooner than anyone expected. If so, it is difficult to anticipate what the consequences might be. That is the subject of the present novel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.....after seeing the IBM commercial stating their push for this *nanotechnology* it reminds me of his other statement in Jurassic Park about scientist and how they forge ahead and don't think about the ramifications and repercussions of some of their ideas that they impliment....can't wait to see how he weaves this tale into the nightmare scenario that this science may produce :scared: :scared:

Anybody else read this yet? If so what did you think? No spoilers please as I've not gotten any further than the introduction. :)

[Old and In the Way]

1. No, but you've piqued my interest.

I like Critchton's works for the most part. I'll be on the lookout for this one, I think.

[jus_the_facts]

2. ....my SO just finished this one and he raved about it......

....always enjoyed his other stuff too...and this particular subject sounds like something we all should be more aware of....as it may have much more adverse effects than beneficial ones. :evilfrown:

[amazona]

3. yes i've read it

I won't give any spoilers but imho it was a surprisingly weak effort. I wonder sometimes if he has ghost writers because of the very uneven quality of his work.

[jus_the_facts]

4. ....since reading it....do you think the public should be more aware...

.....of this new technology...and what it's capable of? Any thoughts as to the responsiblity of government to not allow it...like say the stand on human cloning? If you can expound on it w/o giving any of the plot away that is. :)

[amazona]

9. no i don't especially think so...

...Prey is just a fast, breezy read with little that convinces me that nanotechnology is anything worth worrying about.

Indeed, the nonfiction I've read on this topical has not convinced me that there is anything to it. It's a great magic wand to use for creating superhumans in fiction...the TV program Jake 2.0 for example has the superman created by getting nanotech robots in his bloodstream and spinal cord. But is nanotechnology something that could actually be developed? I'm getting more skeptical as I get older. We never even learned to control fusion -- 1940s technology. We never got a vaccine for cancer -- something predicted in the 50s and 60s. We can't seem to make the next leap in physics -- when all is said and done, virtually all our modern physics is based on discoveries made in the 1930s and earlier. So I look on nanotechnology as a form of SF-nal handwaving that occurs more and more often in fiction but without much to convince me that it will ever be more than a literary device.

[jus_the_facts]

10. ....hummm....I hear what you're saying but must disagree....

.....take computers for example...nobody believed 50 years ago that we'd see the advancement of this technology to what it's become today...heck just a decade ago it didn't dawn on most that it'd become as powerful a force as it is....I'm not trying to presume that the intellegence aspect of it may form from nano-tech....but the contamination resulting from it due to just the experimentation of it...in say..the medical field alone..by using it to clear a blockage in the heart...would stand to contaminate that person and their DNA....the same can be said as far as countless things in the enviornment...when used to *inhance* things that nature takes care of....and that is exactly what the computer mega corps are toying with right now....assembling things on a molecular level in a lab...then propogaing it onto a population that isn't aware of it or it's dangerous possiblities...this is what we face on a massive scale...it IS possible and they ARE in the process of making it so..:scared:

[amazona]

14. well I hope it's possible but...

I just don't believe it. If it was truly possible to create these tiny devices to completely repair our teeth, brains, and bodies, we would live forever. For any number of basic physics/sciences and social sciences reasons, I don't believe this is possible or, if it was possible, that it would be allowed for the common person.

Being from a physics background, I'm very saddened by our low rate of progress. I don't agree that "nobody" 50 years ago thought we'd see the progress we'd seen with computers; many people thought we would have seen more. I'm not yet 50 but, quite frankly, *I* expected to see a lot more by now.

Still, it's good to read such books to expand our imagination. In this one, he didn't do it for me, but I will never forget such strange scenes as the encounters with Dinosaurs in Costa Rica in Jurassic Park.

Our DNA is not perfect. Nature wants us to reproduce in our teens and get out of the way and off the planet (die) in our forties. "God may be a beautiful artist but he's a piss poor engineer." Some of these nanotechnologies do indeed promise to change ("contaminate") our DNA. Well, I hate to say it but I believe our DNA could stand some improvement -- I'm just not convinced that we can bring it off.

If the gov't makes such technology "illegal" (which it will) the reason is to allow the elite to quietly continue to extend their lives while allowing us to quietly die off and get out of their way. They already live longer than we do. I hear all the time about how much longer "people" are living, but this is not really true; many professions (and not elite ones like politician or concert pianist) are still dying in their 50s as usual to judge from what I see around me. So I'm quite dissatisfied with our natural DNA.

I would be happy to be proved wrong. Time will tell!

[jus_the_facts]

15. well what you say about DNA is why this disturbs me so......

.....because we've been going against what nature itself has provided for us....and THAT is precisely why we find ourselves in most of the chaos we do....our technology has far out paced our emotions and we battle nature in the process which has destroyed the natural order of our enviornment and will destroy all we were provided to exist in the first place....this nanotechnology is just another extremely dangerous example of why more thought is paramount to the decisions that should be made on behalf of humanity in general...just my personal observation....we've jumped headlong in attempting to make our lives easier and longer....which has turned nature against us and has/is and will be the main catalyst to our demise.

[amazona]

i'm worried if we spend too much time in thought...

...I'll be dead -- knowing my luck, probably two days before the nano tech miracle is unleashed on the world and everyone (else) lives on forever!

[jus_the_facts]

19. it wouldn't be a miracle imho.....the earth can't sustain the stress of us

....all as it is....to make lives endless PLUS overpopulation....that is a curse upon Mother Earth not a miracle. :(

[amazona]

28. well at my age i can't be expected to agree

Mother Earth expected me to have popped out 13 children and to have died by now. Clearly it would be hypocrisy for me to oppose a technology to help others live longer, healthier lives.

[jus_the_facts]

30. ....oh yes....the hypocrisy knows no bounds.....

....and the advancements aren't for ALL to benefit from....only a select few who can afford it ever truly benefit from them anymore...so it's not hard for me to oppose at all....

[Kenneth ken]

5. I've read this

I like Chrichton quite a lot.

It may be I don't really understand everything that nanotechnology implies, or is capable of, but I thought the story was sort of silly.
Not completely, just aspects of it. Unfortunately, those are significant aspects to moving the story along.

Interesting read, and I enjoyed it, but it never convinced me of the plausibility of the "threats" he presents.

On a sort of off-topic; what I like about Chrichton is how he weaves a social statement into the story, without making it obvious. i.e. the way western society is/was declining in the 80's as shown in Rising Sun. There, the emphasis is on how the Japanese are coming to dominate the US, and the US is oblivious to it all; every technological advance is made in the US, and sold off to the Japanese who refine and improve it. Meanwhile, in the US, roads are falling apart, corruption is so commonplace as to be considered the norm; etc.
All that is woven into the seams of a simple murder mystery.

Back on topic: I didn't find anything like that in Prey.

Could be I just didn't read it attentively enough.

[jus_the_facts]

7. I have read Rising Son too.....

....my hardback library includes that one and this one...Timeline...Congo...and The Andromeda Strain....and hope to add the rest as soon as it's feasible :)

I've not gotten far into this yet...but from my limited understanding of nanotechnology...it sounds to me it's potential is scary...gonaa have to finish this and learn much much more about it....as it sounds too like A WHOLE LOT of oversight needs to be put into place regarding it!!

[DrBB]

6. Neil Stephenson's The Diamond Age is another superb

...nano-tech novel. Not quite the tour-de-force that was Snow Crash, but a hell of a good read.

[jus_the_facts]

8. Cool.....thanks for the recommendation......

....will definitely check it out....what are your impressions of this technology and it's potential? :)

[Ohio Dem]

11. Yep.

Not his best work, but good.

And if Crichton is writing about it, it's within the realm of possibility.

[jus_the_facts]

12. yeah that's what has me concerned about seeing the commercials....

....lately that specifically mentions their push into these realms....have you seen the one I'm talking about? If I'm not mistaken it's an IBM commercial that's been running a LOT lately :evilfrown:

on edit....if they're advertising about it then there's no telling what they've already been doing with it...that makes me VERY uncomfortable!:scared:

[Ohio Dem]

13. Yeah, I've seen them.

And I thought immediately about Prey.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Skip Crichton, and go straight to Drexler

There are some good books out there about nanotechnology, including by him.

Actually, feel free to read the Crichton - don't miss an opportunity to lose yourself in a novel. :-)

But if you are curious about nanotech and possible ramifications, must read Drexler and some of the others.

[jus_the_facts]

17. Is that the same K. Eric Drexler that Crichton is quoting there....

....from "Introduction to Nanotechnology" in "Prospects in Nanotechnology Toward Molecular Manufacturing" (Proceedings of the First General Conference on Nanotechnology: Development, Applications and Opportunities)? He included his comments on the subject and the book about it all as a footnote in the introduction of 'Prey'. I will definitely go look for this and other stuff about it at the library after I finish this fictional inspiration! :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. Yep - the same Drexler.

Good to know that Crichton has at least done his research and using real people etc. :-)

[Ohio Dem]

24. Yeah, Crichton is good about doing research.

And where he alters the info to suit the needs of his book, he says so at the end.

[wtmusic]

20. Awful

Lousy characters, weak science, hokey plot (I didn't care for it)

[jus_the_facts]

21. sorry you were so disappointed in it.....

....have you read Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear? I really like it and just finished the sequel to it called Darwin's Children...wasn't as good as the first book but still pretty good....if you like science based fiction! :)

[wtmusic]

25. Will check it out

thanks

[amazona]

29. not crazy about that one either

I am usually a big Bear fan but I thought I would tear my hair of boredom with Darwin's Radio if there was one more conference or meeting. Just seemed like there was more action in the Blood Music days. Maybe I'm just getting old and grouchy, ha!

I'll look for the Stephenson book.

[MissMarple]

26. Family all read it on vacation last Christmas. Lightweight, yes...

quick fast read, but some basic info on an elementary level.
It was definitely not one of Crichton's best efforts. The boy child picked up Timeline yesterday, all on his own! :bounce: It's not bad. It does keep the brain cells busy. My personal favorite is Congo.

[jus_the_facts]

27. I really liked Congo too...the movie sucked big time tho....

.....I'd have to say Andromeda Strain has to be my favorite...I've got Timeline but haven't read it yet....the SO said it was really good....I got half of Prey read now....and I like it.:)

[TXlib]

22. It was an enjoyable read

[jus_the_facts]

23. so far I think so too.....

....gonna log off and enjoy some more of it right now! :D

:hi:

[jus_the_facts]

31. Well I finished reading it.....and it was a trip....now I'm anxious.....

....to read the background information about all these technologies he uses and lists.

...I like how Michael Crichton writes...he doesn't use a lot of unnecessary descriptive filling in his works...I like that...and this book didn't disappoint me at all...I would recommend it to anybody who likes to read science based fiction! :)